70-640, 70-642, 70-680, which one to take 1st? MCITP:EA

Dmaul

Hello all,

Bit of a background, I have a BS in Informaiton Systems and about 5 years of Systems Admin experience using Windows 2000/XP/2008, VMWare and Windows 7, also some basic networking, routing, DNS, hardware experience. I don't have any certifications.

My goal is to get an MCITP: EA and a VMWare certification and work as a Systems Administrator installing and configuring virtual and physical infrastructures as well as overseeing migration.

Where should I start? I am thinking I should start with the following tests

Exam 70-640 Active Directory
Exam 70-642 Networking
Exam 70-680 Windows 7

These seem to be fundamental skills I need ASAP and they apply towards my final goal, MCITP:EA. Which of these three would you recommend taking first? I have heard people say "I wish I have taken exam X before taking exam Y", this is what I am looking for. Perhaps another test should be my starting point?


Thanks in advance.

I posted the same question in the 70-640 and 70-680 forums, I hope that's ok.

earweed

Since you have experience with AD you should probably take the 642 before the 640 as a lot of people here, with experience, have found that to be best. As for the 680, as long as you take it somewhere before the 643 you should be ok. The deployment you learn with the 680 studies will help.

stevets

My background and level of experience is comparable to yours. I took the 640 first, and found it to be much easier than I had anticipated. I plan on taking the 642 next, so I can't really say which to do first.

Although, I can say that passing your first exam on the first try definitely builds your confidence and motivates you to move right on to the next exam. I suppose it all depends on your background...

Jander1023

If you have never taken any Microsoft certification exams, you may want to start with the easiest exam first - the 680. The exams can be very tricky sometimes. With your current work experience, you could probably do the 642 first, then the 640. But it really doesn't make too much of a difference. If you take the 680 and 640, you'll be halfway finished with the 642.

Also, what kind of migration do you want to work with? Desktop? Win7? If so, you may want to take all 3 Win7 certs. The 685 is for Win7 Enterprise Desktop Support. The 686 is for Win7 - building images, enterprises deployment, application deployment, etc. The MS Press book for the 686 is scheduled for release next month. You don't need either of those certs to get your MCITP, but they may be very valuable. I plan on getting the 686 after I complete the 642 and 646; hopefully by EOY.

za3bour

Well I can't say 70-680 is an easy exam, a lot of new features that were tested there (bracnhcache, directaccess..etc)

But I think this order is the best to take

70-680
70-642
70-640

If you are not familiar with Win 7 then do it after those two